Three-and-a-half years after it closed for a major redevelopment, Warwick Arts Centre's Mead Gallery is set to reopen on 13 January 2022 with a free exhibition by leading Bangladeshi-British artist Rana Begum.

The gallery has been at the centre of the visual arts world in the Midlands since 1986, hosting major international artists such as Henry Moore, Peter Lanyon, Bill Brandt, Elisabeth Frink, Terry Frost, Liliane Lijn, Hurvin Anderson, Grayson Perry, Tracey Emin, George Shaw, and artist-turned-film-maker Steve McQueen.

It closed in June 2018, after exhibitions dedicated to painter Clare Woods and mid-20th century artist and designer John Piper, as part of the arts centre's wider redevelopments.

Now situated on the ground floor of the arts centre, at the heart of the new foyer, the repositioned Mead Gallery is more visible, and has retained its familiar and adaptable 'L' shape.

With a floor area of 605 square metres (6,458 square feet), it's the largest single dedicated contemporary exhibition space in the region.

As advertised in our What's On section, opening exhibition Rana Begum: Dappled Light features a number of artworks commissioned for the new gallery, with several of her large-scale works - paintings, sculptures and installations - responding specifically to the Arts Centre's architecture.

The artist's work focuses on the interplay between light and colour, dissolving the boundaries between sculpture, painting and architecture. Elected to the Royal Academy in 2020, Rana has exhibited around the world, with recent commissions including work for Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, New York University, and for London City Island.

Discussing the gallery's reopening, Warwick Arts Centre's director, Doreen Foster, said: "As one of the UK's most significant and respected contemporary galleries, our Mead Gallery has been sorely missed.

"We're especially pleased to be opening with new work from Rana, whose work is simply stunning. Dappled Light is a perfect way to reintroduce the Mead to everyone – from art aficionados, to casual visitors who've just popped in early before seeing a film, concert or show."

Rana Begum said: "I am so excited to share this body of work; it stems from new explorations in the studio that I have had the opportunity to push and develop in response to the architecture and the natural light of the renovated Mead space.

"The show is a dialogue between my earlier work and these new ventures - between the areas of my practice that feel more resolved and the areas that I am only just discovering. Together with curator Cliff Lauson, we have considered how people will move through the space, and the atmosphere and experience it will create. This has been a fascinating process and I am looking forward to seeing it come alive at the Mead Gallery."

For more local events, follow this link to our What's On page!

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